Handel's Messiah - Not Just Another Music Score!

When I first experienced this work performed at our church, it was an eye-opener (and heart-opener and mind-opener, and subsequently a Bible-opener). It is as far away from being ‘just another concert’ as you standing in your living room is as far from Jupiter, and even farther away than that! Because it is the Gospel message directly from the Bible; it carries a life-saving urgency. The Messiah came and is coming again! A couple of notes of applicability from the sheet music of Messiah …

           Opening voices: Male voices sound the prophecy, exhortation, and God’s Grace provision. God’s people can feel comforted and assured that God will carry out his promised restoration of His people. He forgives sins. He has sent his messenger to make a pathway, to clear the way for the Anointed One – the Messiah. His promised restoration will raise up His people again, and in contemporary times, we are His messengers, we proclaim the Gospel and coming of Christ. His Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to receive the Messiah by breaking our mountains we have set against God in our sinful condition, and raises us to spiritual life.

Isaiah 40 --  ¹Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  ²Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. ³The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  ⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Then the choir – all voices – forthtell the immensity of the Anointed One’s coming

⁵And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Many people shun the truth of the Word – Jesus – but are happy to celebrate a holiday that is said to be about him. Just because folks reject him does not make him to be a nothing, or to be inconsequential – it is like being in front of a tsunami and saying it cannot bother you because you’re in a Hummer. The immensity of the wave is terrifying. On the other hand, those who have accepted Christ the Messiah as their Lord and King, and have been brought into fellowship with him, sense the immensity of God in another way. They already enjoy a revelation of God’s glory – measure by measure – within their lives. When brought into the family of God, God installs in us Himself in the presence of the Holy Spirit so that the Shekinah Glory remains with us and in us. All can witness God’s glory in those in whom God is present – if we continue to let our light shine before men and women. Why? Because God says so – He has purposed a people from before time and has brought them into His glorious light. (Matthew 5:16; 2 Corinthians 4:4) What He also says in this very short verse is that regardless of whether or not you accept the Messiah, you will see the Glory of God – either in a positive way, or in judgment.

                Malachi 3:1-3. Male voices speak of God’s preparation of His people for the day of His coming, and the choir responds

¹Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.  ²But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: ³And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

Fuller’s soap was a cleanser that was used to scour and scrub wool and cloth. In ancient times, cleaning a wool fabric was not as simple as taking it to the dry cleaners, or using Woolite. If you have ever seen the wool on a sheep, you recall that the wool is full of impurities and is dirty. The person called a Fuller had the job of taking the cloth woven with that wool and scrubbing and rubbing against a rock or other hard surface until it was reasonably clean. These were some very strong-armed folks. Hand-washing made extreme. Likewise, the task of purifying precious metals like gold and silver requires very, very hot fire to burn the impurities away. It is not an easy job standing in the heat of the furnace all day then processing the metal for purity. That is where the ‘karat’ and fineness designations fit in – they describe the purity of the metal.

For the ancient Israelite priests – the sons of Levi who were the only Israelites permitted to be priests, they understood the need for purification – they were handling sacred things, and standing before the very presence of God within the tabernacle and temple. They had to be made holy by God because they were entering a holy place. The blood of a perfect lamb would be sprinkled on the priests to cleanse them of their sins. Their clothing was made to specifications designed by God. It was and still is a fearful and humbling thing to stand before the Creator! And terrifying to come before Him unprepared. Without being made pure by God’s standards, it was impossible for the priest to offer up anything of worth to God. The book of Malachi speaks to how the priests had become wicked and had trashed the word of God. They worshipped other gods and mistreated the people. They refused to be sanctified and purified as God prescribed. Their offerings were worthless before God. Today, we are in the same situation. As a called-out, redeemed people, God has appointed us as his “holy nation of priests, a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) and we are tasked with the responsibility of carrying out worship in our spiritual temples - our bodies. We are purified, made pure by the fire of His Word (Jeremiah 23:29) and His transforming Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11, Romans 15:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), so that our worship can be acceptable to God. We who subject ourselves to the authority of the Word, are cleansed and we are also washed in the blood of the Lamb, as the Israelite priests were during the cleansing ritual. (see Eph. 5:26; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 7:14; 1 Peter 1:18-20) If we reject God’s Word and authority, and do not submit to His Holy Spirit’s counsel, we are in the same predicament as those priests spoken of in Malachi chapters 2 and 3, and come under the judgment of God.

            Next time, we will look at the succeeding airs and chorus pieces in “Messiah” so as to understand what we are saying when we share this Gospel with others.

The Still Small Voice

Listening to the winds of Hurricane Sandy brought this to mind just now. When Elijah was on the mountain in the cave hiding out of fear of Jezebel and her forces, a very tired possibly discouraged or despairing Elijah needed the reassurance that his God was more than a word on a scroll, greater than a hero in a story.

Elijah didn't seek out this reassurance, but his all knowing God in heaven knew Elijah's true need at that moment. It wasn't a hiding place from evil people - what he needed was a confirmation that his life spent as a prophet of God wasn't for nothin'. Wasn't just another life to be snuffed out by an enemy of Jehovah. Not a dot on the immensity of time, nor a mindless tool of a puppeteer god. No, an A grade was not what Elijah needed. God wanted Elijah to know that he was of more worth to God than all the rubies, gems, precious metals, any and all treasures ever to be seen by man. God gave him a gift of Himself. And this gift was given in an extraordinary way.

God brought him out onto the face of the mountain - an experience which was incredible in its own way - man against a mountain. Then God passed by Elijah! The New American Standard Version actually includes an exclamation point after that sentence - underscoring the significance of that moment. There was a great wind that ripped by Elijah - who was no doubt being protected in a supernatural way by God from this windstorm - it was so fierce it must have sounded like 10 x 10 times squared the roar I'm hearing outside my window now. The wind shattered and imploded parts of the rock face all around Elijah. He already knew God to be of infinite power and yet it was being demonstrated again. Then an earthquake occurred that shook the very foundation of the huge mountain, and still Elijah is protected and sees and experiences God's omnipotence first hand without a single bone being damaged! After the earthquake, a fire - a consuming force that could 'eat' its victims in a moment. God must have pushed Elijah back away from the fire into the mouth of the cave, for we next read that Elijah emerges from the cave again. Yet God did not make Himself known to Elijah in any of these all powerful occurrences. These were God's calling card, so to speak, to get Elijah's attention for the real encounter God would have with him. It was in an intimate whisper - a still small voice - that God made himself known to Elijah. God brought Elijah into a personal relationship with Himself, a moment in time like no other Elijah had known where he - a mere man - was allowed to commune with God. God saw through Elijah's fear, frustration, and despair, transporting him to a place of complete contentment that he would experience with God. From that point forward Elijah would grow in relationship with God in a special way until the time he would be taken up into heaven to never experience death like every other human has.

We often want God to make Himself known to us in big ways - a huge material blessing or a huge healing. And He may do that if that is His will and method for getting our attention. A whisper, though, requires one to get close enough to utter it and the hearer close enough to hear it. God chose to make Himself known to Elijah at this time in his life in such a way. It is always in a personal way that we come to best know God and experience who He truly is. We can experience the omnipotence of God in glorious and wondrous ways, yet the encounter God knows we need is a personal one with Him. So God still speaks in a 'still small voice, in a whisper', to his servants. He still sets as His ultimate goal for us a close, personal relationship with Him. His Spirit in us testifies to us of this intimacy. He whispers to us through His Word, in silent moments of meditation and prayer in which we are reassured of His presence in our life and circumstances. Obviously, His omnipotence is certainly representative in the thrashing of the winds and the copious downpours. Yet, it is the intimacy with Him that He seeks with us where we really 'see' God and know His love for us. A close and trusting relationship that we can count on for the rest of our lives. A true peace and joy that knows I am His and that I can enjoy His best for me forever.

God, I will praise you in this storm, for I know You and You know who I am. (borrowed from the hymn by Casting Crowns "Praise You in This Storm")

Metro Area Rattles and Rolls - A look back one year later

August 23, 2011 -- A Chit-Chat with God

What about that earthquake? Wow! Can you remember what you were doing when it struck? Did you feel like “weebles” – you know, “weebles wobble but they don’t fall down”? Did you thank God for the chit chat?

Looking at the Richter scale level of 5.8, and looking at the damage caused by such intensity, prayer was so called for. The fall to your knees kind of prayer, as many of us did, in deep gratitude that where we live we were not more seriously impacted. Earlier this year, an earthquake rated at 5.8 shook a part of China; 14 were reported dead. Three points higher – at 6.1, also earlier this year, reported by the Central American Adventist University in Costa Rica – initial indications were that dozens of people were missing, and life resources were challenged. The National Cathedral was damaged – the tops of the pillars on the tower falling down and cracks in several places. The Washington Monument did not fall, but it suffered major serious cracks. We can be thankful that, generally speaking and comparatively, there was no life-threatening injury report, even though some inconveniences and property damage, and that the damage was not as excessive and broad a scope as in those other locations.

We can also be thankful for the jolt.

Students of the Bible know that God will use whatever means necessary to capture the attention of people. He has declared in no uncertain terms that He does not desire for any to die because of failure to know Him and become saved (John 3:16-18). As I was meandering through the human congestion on the sidewalks and in the streets caused by all of the office buildings being evacuated shortly after the major shaking ended, I spoke to a couple of people who were so bewildered and clearly shaken spiritually – i.e., beyond the physical experience, and some spoke to it being God’s wake up call. It was a similar discussion I had with a supermarket cashier some days earlier – God keeps pursuing us, seeking to get our attention. Because we in the Western Hemisphere value very highly the security of our comforts that we pay dearly for with our credit cards and crazy work schedules, God often jars us where we feel the most secure. And yesterday was no exception.

The thing is, though, if you’ve been paying attention, you will realize that God has been trying to get our attention for a long time. The subtle approach captured the attention of some. God is faithful – He’ll use less subtle means (e.g., earthquakes and severe weather) if necessary to get our attention so that we can make a choice. Jesus declared that we living in the last days would experience these geophysical and atmospheric disruptions (and also with some spiritual applications) on an increasingly frequent and broadening scale, not only to signal what time it is but also to alert us and get our attention. (Matthew 24 and 25, Joel 2; Isaiah 13:13; Amos 9:1; Haggai 2:6-7; Luke 21:26) So, like, how is it working for you?

At last night’s Bible study, we reviewed again God’s words in Paul’s inspired message to the church at Philippi, found in chapter 4. If one is a believer who has experienced the saving grace of God, who has been born again, i.e., baptized by and indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit and brought into the family of God, then every breath and action is one of praise and thanksgiving. We can rejoice, and must become persons who rejoice in the Lord because of what He has saved us out of and has saved us from moment by moment. Because of who He is. The expression “but for the Grace of God” takes on sober meaning to such persons who live knowing that they are in the presence of God with each breath we take. Believers know the truth of God’s promise in Romans 8:28 (which is one of the summary statements of the previous verses in that passage about who we are in Christ) that God will cause everything to work out to our good for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose – even when we can’t see past the moment, God has seen our future. We can thank God that He has not lost interest in us, but at each and every turn, He reminds us who He is so that we can know who we are. He will use any means necessary to get our attention. Thanks be to God!

In fact, we can be reassured that once we have been saved by God and brought into His spiritual family, that He will not allow His love for us to be canceled out or absented from us due to external or even internal circumstances (see Romans 8:35-39). The psalmist acknowledged that even though he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, he could be assured that he would not be destroyed by evil, but that God will continue to be with him. (Psalm 23) God taught Habakkuk not to complain about how He worked out His saving grace and plan for salvation. (Book of Habakkuk) As the Most High Almighty God, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His plans and ways more sure than ours could ever be. God’s lesson to Habakkuk, and subsequently to us, is to learn to trust our Heavenly Father even if everything around us falls or fails. The apostle Paul cited his many trials and near death experiences on account of the Gospel of Christ, learning through those crises who God is and what His grace does on behalf of believers. (see 2 Corinthians 4:7, 8; 12:1-10)

God has fully revealed Himself to us so that we know what we need to know about Him to trust him, to believe, and to respond, and like that, see our life and times from His perspective (see 2 Peter 1:2-4), and He implores us to become reconciled to Him - that is His greatest cause for us, cautioning that this invitation has an expiration date. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2; Mark 13:19-21; 2 Peter 3:8-10)

As like with many other occasions, whether or not we were paying attention, God reached out to us yesterday. He sought to get our attention. He invited us to “chit chat”, to respond to His seeking. Some of us have responded to a gentle call, like Jesus at the sea calling out to the fishermen who would be His disciples. Some of us have required more stern communication, a la Job or Jonah, or even Saul of Tarsus. He will shake up our norm, our comforts and security; He will rock our world to its very core, if that is what it takes. No one will be able to say on that Day - the apocalyptic Day of the Lord that is coming - that they did not know! Has anyone recently asked you to pray for them? God has gotten their attention. Keep praying for them. Has anyone said they need to study the Bible? God has gotten their attention. Invite them and/or bring them to a Bible study. Has someone become aware of a need to worship? God has gotten their attention. Show them how. And rejoice, again I say rejoice, for the privilege to honor God and give thanks for every jolt we receive that keeps us focused on God.

God’s favor be with all of you. Thanks be to God!

Fear and Trembling

I wonder why we - both believers and nonbelievers - are asked to have an attitude of fear and trembling before Almighty God?

How fast has the Church held to this attitude? A couple of pastors I respect continually say that the Church must look and act more like Christ and not like the world; they grieve because too often it is hard to differentiate between the two. Many within the Body of Christ have set about to 'blend' with the world, assuming that the more we blend the more amenable and favorable people will be towards things churchy. Yet - if the Gospel of Christ, which holds and engenders the power of salvation from God, is not preached nor taught, nor reflected in those who fearlessly call themselves 'Christian', then what becomes the foundation standard within the church? It's not a coincidence that a (for lack of a better word) 'liberal' Gospel - one that purports to speak of God yet is deceivingly anti-God, is being offered by many church leaders who promote a God and gospel of convenience and feel-good comfort. It is a watered-down theology of empty promises and hyperbole. The Holy, Almighty God, Eternal Heavenly Father, maker of heaven and earth and Savior of the Bible - His Word - is diminshed to a customized made to order deity who deals out 'love' and favors, takes no notice of 'sin' nor holds any accountable. An easy-rider god doling out  >Peace! dude at every encounter.

Yet, look at what happened when Jesus met the young rich ruler as recorded in Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18. It is the only encounter where a person seeking Jesus goes away sad. Still, the Bible says, Jesus loved him with the same sacrificial love He would show for all of mankind. Jesus - God's instrument of His love for mankind -  throughout the gospel records demonstrates over and over what Godly love of mankind is. That was one of the reasons He came to earth. Look, too, at the woman at the well in John 4 (one of my favorites). In both of these encounters, Jesus in His love touches on those attitudes, practices, lifestyles that go contrary to God's moral will for their lives - attitudes that will be detrimental to their happiness and peace. Sore spots that left unchecked will take their lives. Jesus lovingly and caringly shows them Himself so that they can see their need for Him, and their need to be saved from the authority that their sin has over them.

His response to their circumstances could have been to overlook their error and accept the young man's idol worship, and the woman's adultery with a word of 'love' and let them continue on their way in sins that would destroy their lives. He could have given them a feel-good speech, and maybe the young man would not have gone away sad, and the woman not have been embarrassed or disgraced. But He would not. To do so would be against His character and His Father's character. It would be a deception to appear to approve of behavior that runs counter to everything He has ever said in His Word about worship and morality, and His desire for the best in their lives. Rather, in His unconditional love and in his unmerited grace and inestimable mercy, he conveys his conditional acceptance.

Jesus told Nicodemus that God sent His only-begotten Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice because He loved the world; but Jesus' words did not end with God loves the world. He adds, "so that those who believe in him (trust, obey him) would not perish but have everlasting life." His love is unconditional - He created us, gave us life; the Bible says that God makes it rain on the 'wicked' and the righteous. He laid down His life so that humans throughout the world and time could be restored to a right relationship with God. However, to receive salvation a person would need to believe that Jesus is Christ, Savior, and Lord of his or her life. That is called a 'condition.' God did not say, 'first you must clean up your life, do penance, this that or the other, then if you believe, you can be saved.' No; by God's grace, a person believes in Jesus no matter what circumstance God encounters him or her in, and by an act of faith, authored and sourced by God's grace, a person may be saved. After God's saving act by the cleansing blood of Christ, He begins the sanctification process - the transformation and restoration process within believers' lives to grow them to be more and more like Christ.. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 14-20)

To fully grasp the underlying message - if salvation was based on unconditional acceptance, then there was no need for Christ to die the horrific sacrificial death that he died. Why would He die for sins if they were acceptable to God to begin with? There would have been no need for a chosen people - Israel - through whom God would execute a plan of salvation, no Moses, no 10 commandments to show humankind its sin. The God of the Bible would not be Holy, because there would not be a delineation between holiness and unrighteousness. Adam and Eve should not have died, then, for their choice to reject God if there is unconditional acceptance. Why would have God bothered with a flaming sword in the Garden of Eden? Why all those Bible verses about destruction of Baal worship or false worship, or of places like Sodom and Gomorrah, if idolatry and immorality were acceptable to God? What about thieving and larcenous hearts in the wilderness experience of Israel and throughout that great nation's history - why would God have called for its destruction if He unconditionally accepts rejection? Why would God have bothered to denounce satan the devil if He is a God of unconditional acceptance? Why would God have carefully preserved His Word these many thousands of years, which has told the story of God's plan of salvation, His desire to see mankind saved and restored in relationship with Him - if there was nothing to be saved from?

Yet, it is this message, this gospel of unconditional acceptance of sin that too many loud voices in the Church are teaching (in fact, they dumb down the concept of sin and redefine it to support the lifestyles and behaviors of the world). It is a message that is well received by too many, by those who need their ears tickled. To feel good about themselves. To promote a pick'n'choose theology that fits one's lifestyle and then call it 'contemporary Christianity.' To bitterly abhor those parts of the Bible where God delineates his moral will for mankind and who in their abhorrence label those Bible passages as hate messages. To continue cocooned in the veil that the ruler of this world system has imposed to blind the minds of the unbelievers. That ruler satan disguises himself as a beacon of enlightenment and leads many astray. He even desires to deceive those who would call themselves followers of Christ into this false theology about God and His character. He has done this from the beginning - with Eve he told her God knows that when you eat of the fruit you will become like Him, so why would He forbid this and withold this from you? With 21st century worshipers he uses the same deception - telling them God's love means He accepts and condones wrongdoing and blesses persons, lifestyles and behaviors that are in rebellion against Him.

It doesn't take a lot of looking around to see that this is true - some church groups have made this their new mantra, believing this contemporary world view will bring people back to church. (what would be the purpose, I wonder???) Just as he did in the Garden of Eden, the god of this system deceives and misrepresents the truth. He knows his fate of eternal destruction awaits and has been striving to pull away and destroy the future of those who could believe and fear the God who created the universe just by speaking it into being, who knows the end from the beginning, and who desires that all should seek him and live forever. Yet, this deceiver, this slanderer, this rebel, liar, and murderer - even he and his demons know to tremble before this Almighty, Omnipotent God. (James 2:19) Because despite their lies and deceptions, they know the truth about who God truly is.

Who do you think God is? Is He really a God of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance? (an oxymoron if ever there was one) Are we humans so stubborn, blind, arrogant - or, too ignorant to recognize who God truly is and come before Him with fear and trembling? Do we not know who it is we are thumbing our nose at? (grammar intentional) Are you willing to stake your life on what you believe? One way or the other, we all are. And we will all see the results of our choices. Please choose to fear God and follow His will for your life.

The preceding will be said to be not politically correct, old-fashioned, antiquated (as one news commentator recently stated), narrow-minded, hateful, and might even get labeled by some one at some point as uncivil and anti-whatever. And, you know, it is true that we are narrow-minded, journeying through the narrow road that leads to life! The God who has the right to not only demand our worship but to also define how He wants to be worshiped is of old - from eternity to eternity; He is above all politics and political authorities; He has established eternal, universal principles that are against all things that would destroy and defile His highest creation - humankind. He has declared that the way to life is a narrow road. As for hatred, well, God abhors sin; as Holy, Almighty God He alone can define what sin is or is not, and He has done so in His Word the Bible. (Romans 1; Job 34:10-11, 21-27, 33; Matthew 7:13; John 8:24; 1 John 4:10; Revelation 21:7-8)